Two months later, Activision and developer Nihilistic are shedding new details on this fall’s PS Vita punisher. We caught up with Robert Huebner, the developer’s studio head, for the latest intel drop.

PlayStation.Blog: How is the game progressing since we last saw it at Gamescom?

Robert Huebner, Studio Head, Nihilistic: Gamescom seems so long ago. I think the most noticeable thing is a significant visual upgrade; a richer color palette, more detailed models, and better lighting overall. Also we implemented an entirely new animation blending system that allows us to capture a lot of nuanced animation that Call of Duty players are accustomed to.

PSB: What do you consider to be the most crucial elements to nail when adapting Call of Duty to PS Vita?
RH: Two things really come to mind. The feel of the controls and weapons is a top priority, because that’s a lot of what makes Call of Duty work so well on other platforms. We got a lot of great insight and advice from the franchise veterans on this, but also adapted things for the specific controls on the PS Vita.

The second thing probably were animations. You don’t notice it all the time while you’re playing, but when you drill down, Call of Duty has an insane number of animations for each enemy and every little transition and move feels really accurate and intelligent. So we invested a lot of time in trying to capture that same feeling in Declassified.

PSB: Tell us about these new maps you’ve revealed, Nukehouse and Range. Nukehouse clearly seems inspired by the fan-favorite map Nuketown.
RH: Yeah, Nuketown is obviously a fan favorite so we wanted to really do an homage to that map. Nukehouse is a tighter level overall but tries to capture the unique look and feel of the original.

PSB: Here’s a question fans have been wondering about: How deep will the weapon modding system be?
RH: Weapons retain many of the attachments from previous games, with fan favorites such as suppressors, extended mags,underaction grenade launchers, and different optics. New additions also appear like improved grip, which improves hip fire accuracy, and adjustable stock, which gives full movement speed while using Aim Down the Sight.

In multiplayer, you’ll unlock these attachments by leveling up your weapons. You’ll be able to use up to two attachments with each primary weapon, and one attachment with secondary weapons.

PSB: How many Perks will be in the game, and what will they be? Anything new?
RH: There are a total of 12 Perks in Black Ops Declassified, with a mix of returning and new abilities. Hardline, Marksman, Sleight of Hand, and Lightweight are all back, but new perks like Surplus (extra starting ammo and grenades), Hardwired (immune to Counter Spy Plane) and Toughness (reduced flinching when shot) are also important to remember when creating classes.

PSB: Will there be different grenade types, and will any use PS Vita’s touchscreen in interesting ways?
RH: Definitely. We’re trying to bring back the most popular grenade and tactical weapons that fit the time period of our story, and there’s a lot of variety. The Bouncing Betty is one of the most popular around the office for multiplayer; there’s something very satisfying about getting a kill with one. And flash-bangs are also fun, the reaction of your opponents over Party voice chat is always entertaining. The front touchscreen is used to toss grenades as well as optionally to aim your throw.

PSB: What kinds of missions are planned for single-player?
RH: The single-player campaign consists of intense and replayable objective-based missions that allow you to get better and better over time to improve your performance. The goal is to give the player the experience of striving for the “perfect run” through each mission.

PSB: There are Survival missions in the game as well — what can you share?
RH: These “Hostiles” missions as we call them now are the classic “survive infinite waves” sort of challenge. The player has to survive wave after wave of different enemy types, but also receives “care package” drops during play to keep them supplied.

Call of Duty Black Ops: Declassified is real, and we’ve played it. I think the highest compliment I can pay it is to say that, well, it looks and plays like Call of Duty. The running and gunning, the aiming down the sights, the familiar Bank Gothic notices popping up when you land a long-range shot or end an opponent’s killstreak, the weapon loadouts and multiplayer modes — they’re all here, rendered on PS Vita’s luscious OLED screen and playable with dual analog sticks in a mobile setting for the first time.

Activision Product Manager Ryan Scott’s gamescom presentation cut straight to the heart of the matter, starting with the game’s multiplayer offering — a key consideration for any self-respecting CoD title. Multiplayer in Black Ops Declassified supports up to eight players via WiFi across six maps, encompassing essential play modes such as Free for all, Team Deathmatch, and Kill Confirmed, with other “classic Call of Duty modes” promised. Other trademark Call of Duty mechanics such as Create-a-Class, Killstreaks, XP, Perks, and Prestige were all present and accounted for.

So how is developer Nihilistic adapting Call of Duty to PS Vita? After playing a round on the new “Shatter” map, it’s clear their goals were to change as little as possible. In fact, after inverting the Y-axis, I didn’t bother asking the devs on hand about the controls – everything was where I expected it to be.

Access to the knife, flashbang, and frag grenade that are assigned to L2/R2 or L3/R3 on PS3 are easily accessible on the front touchscreen. To hurl a grenade, you simply drag the grenade icon to the area of the screen where you want to throw it, or hold it to cook the fuse before you lob it. The ability to independently aim your grenade throw while shooting in another direction is a new tactical wrinkle for the series, and one that will surely be leveraged by experienced players. The knife is even quicker to use because you can tap any part of the screen not already assigned to something else to swipe your blade. That’s a highly practical implementation of the touchscreen, as players won’t have to fumble to tap a small icon during a heated CQC encounter, and we found it was quick and responsive.

Those all-important Killstreaks work the way you’d expect. Once you’ve unlocked a killstreak, the icon pops up on the left side of the screen and you can tap to trigger it. The mortar strike killstreak was blessedly simple: tap the icon to open the map, touch the target, and launch a volley of fiery death to annihilate the opposition.

That leaves sprinting, which is executed by pressing down on the directional pad. The left stick and D-pad are placed closely enough on PS Vita that you can place the tip of your thumb on the D-pad while keeping your left thumb on the left stick for quick recovery. The only use of the rear touchscreen we saw was to hold your breath while peering down the sniper’s scope – not something you’re likely to accidentally trigger.

Create-a-Class is fully supported with custom loadouts and Perks Black Ops: Declassified will also leverage PS Vita’s geo-social “near” functionality with Share-a-Class, enabling players to transmit a character class via WiFi using “near,” and will allow your friends access to load-outs they haven’t yet unlocked through regular progression. Prestige levels are also confirmed.

Visually, the multiplayer map “Shattered” looked sharp, with swirling dust motes, flapping bits of cloth, crumbled architecture, and a steady framerate.

Single-player content wasn’t shown, though Activision confirmed that it will consist of objective-based missions, along with survival and time trial missions, to keep the experience tuned for mobile play. They’ll be wrapped within an original story taking place between Call of Duty: Black Ops and the forthcoming Black Ops 2. Want to know what happened to Hudson, Mason, and Woods before this fall’s Black Ops 2? You know what to do.

Based on what we saw and played, Call of Duty Black Ops: Declassified looks and feels much as you’d expect it to – only now it can take the experience with you on PS Vita. For CoD fans, that’s right on target.

Call of Duty Black Ops: Declassified arrives this November. Are there any specifics you’d like to know? We’ll be speaking with developer Nihilistic soon, and will do our best to get your questions answered. Leave ‘em in the comments below!

The online battles in Resistance: Burning Skies are heating up, so if you don’t have your copy yet, go get it today. If you’re still not sure, download the trial version from the PSN Store so you can try the game out for yourself. Or, come join Rob Huebner from Nihilistic Studios today at 3:00pm Pacific Time, who will be answering all your burning questions. To find the live chat, just go here and click the red button in the upper-right hand corner of the page directing you to live chat with Rob.

We also have news today for those of you who pre-ordered – the Resistance avatars included in your pre-order voucher will be available on June 26th. We apologize for the wait, but for those of you who have already redeemed your voucher code, the avatars will be waiting for you to download as soon as the store publish goes live on the 26th.

Read an update concerning Resistance: Burning Skies multiplayer matches and lobby system here.

The wait is over! Resistance: Burning Skies hits store shelves and PSN today, ushering in a new era of portable first-person shooters. Dual-analog control isn’t the only thing going for Resistance: Burning Skies though. In addition to the multiplayer features and weapon functionality we’ve introduced over the last few months, Resistance: Burning Skies brings a new hero into the war between man and the Chimera – and Tom Riley’s story is one you won’t want to miss. Take a peek at the debut of our Resistance: Burning Skies launch trailer!

This isn’t all we have to share with you today though. You’ll remember back in April when we talked about Resistance: Burning Skies’ multiplayer modes we mentioned that through “near,” Resistance: Burning Skies introduces a new social perk which rewards players with XP multipliers that you can carry into multiplayer battle. Today we’re going to shed a little more light on exactly what that means.

So, as you play through the multiplayer experience in Resistance: Burning Skies, there’s a chance that you will become “infected” with a form of the Chimera virus. Although being infected with the Chimera virus didn’t end too well for Nathan Hale, these particular strains of the Chimera virus actually give you a bonus to your in-game XP multiplier. That means that you can have double and in some cases up to triple XP for a limited amount of time to gain levels and to unlock upgrades more quickly.

The really interesting part is that once you’re infected, through “near” you can spread the virus to your friends or drop it off as a gift to a fellow PS Vita player. Conversely you can also pick up the virus that’s been left behind by other Resistance players via “near.”

If you’re a shooter fan and enjoy portable gaming, get out there and pick up Resistance: Burning Skies today and join the fight against the Chimera on PS Vita!

Resistance: Burning Skies brings a lot of “firsts” to the PS Vita – First-ever dual-analog FPS control on a portable device, the first competitive multiplayer shooter experience on the PS Vita, and the first support for Party voice chat. The real question though, is who is going to be the first to Platinum Resistance: Burning Skies? In order to help you along, we thought we’d share the game’s Trophy list:

There are also 5 more Trophies we didn’t mention to avoid any spoilers, but that list should get you started. Keep your eyes peeled over the next few weeks, because there’s much more to come before May 29th. Also, if you missed our last post, we’re offering some nice goodies when you pre-order your copy of Resistance: Burning Skies today!

Survival mode pits the players against each other in a race to the finish where only the strong survive. Here’s how it works: in a battle of humans vs. Chimera, six players start as humans and two as Chimera. As the Chimera players make a kils, their human victims are resurrected as Chimera so the balance slowly shifts. As the battle continues, the winner is the human player who lasts the longest in a match. We keep a timer running as you play so you can track your progress.

We really wanted to offer something that was unique to Resistance, keeping with the franchise’s theme around humanity’s struggle to survive against overwhelming odds. We wanted the game to start relatively simple for the humans and then become increasingly harder over time, much like the way the Chimera invaded Asia, then Europe and then America in a flood. Previous Resistance games have had modes similar to this, but Survival is our own special twist to create a new mode that focuses on the balance of power changes. Sure, the humans initially have the upper hand, but as they fall, they fuel the other team. We’ve had several matches in the office that have spectators cheering on the lone surviving human. Everyone knows it’s just a matter of time, but finding that last person is a total adrenaline rush!

We’ve been having a lot of fun developing and testing this mode, and we’ve collected a few tips and tricks along the way that might help you survive a little longer. The first thing, and actually contrary to traditional MP gameplay, is that staying still actually works to your advantage. You might want to try and get behind players so as they start searching an area, you can actually hop back against their search pattern. Dark areas are your friend! We’ve also found that you don’t want to hide next to areas like steam vents because, although obscuring, the motion tends to attract attention. Here’s another tip; always go for the head. The ability to quickly neutralize your opponent and then move on is a huge advantage. This may be hide-and -seek, but your prey is armed! Don’t hang around after you’ve killed someone, bodies are pretty obvious signs that someone is nearby.

In addition to the Survival details, we’re also here to let folks know that we’ll be doing a pre-order bonus for Resistance: Burning Skies, and it’s going to give you a pretty nice advantage as you start your own multiplayer experience. When you pre-order Resistance: Burning Skies at participating retailers, you’ll receive a special bonus that gives you a jump start straight to level five in multiplayer. This should be enough experience for you to unlock your first grenade upgrade (the Hedgehog, which can be used as an area of effect weapon of destruction or placed like a landmine for unsuspecting victims to stumble upon) as well as your first weapon upgrade. In addition to the MP booster, we’re also giving you three character avatars based on Burning Skies’ lead characters Riley, Ellie and a Chimera, along with a custom PS Vita lock screen theme. Hopefully, this will be all the head start you need to pown your friends.

Let us know what you think of the new Survival mode.

If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area, come by our community meetup tonight to go hands-on with Resistance: Burning Skies in a kill-or-be-killed multiplayer tournament!

If it’s true that a shooter is only as good as its weapons, Resistance: Burning Skies is shaping up to be a delight indeed. Take the Mule, a new double-barreled shotgun that dishes out devastating buckshot blasts and launches explosive bolts via its over-barrel crossbow. Or the ever-popular Auger, whose projectiles hungrily chew through walls to seek out warm flesh. But my favorite gun so far is the lethal Hunter rifle, a long-range Chimeran burst-fire weapon with the ability to deploy an attack drone that you can guide towards your multiplayer foes with taps on the front touchscreen — tres sophisticated!

Playing a series of Wifi multiplayer matches in Resistance: Burning Skies in New York City last week was a valuable reminder that shooting ultra-powerful weapons just feels good man. In an era of multiplayer games that arguably sport too-fussy weapon balancing, unloading with Burning Skies’ unapologetically brutal arsenal was an intoxicating experience that streamlined the action and reminded me of the good old days of Doom and Quake. Despite their immense power, the arsenal is properly tuned for multiplayer balance — the face-melting Hunter rifle boasts a pokier fire rate and reload time, for instance.

Another interesting touch is how each weapon’s secondary fire makes use of PS Vita’s front touchscreen, whether it’s tapping an enemy in order to fire the Bullseye’s homing tag, swiping from top to bottom to load the Mule’s crossbow bolt, or making a stretching motion with your thumbs to “draw” the Auger’s protective shield. Burning Skies makes use of PS Vita’s rear touchscreen as well, with a rear double-tap triggering the all-important run like hell maneuver.

The final game will include six multiplayer maps, but I was only able to try one — a claustrophobic urban map set in and around a crumbling New York City apartment complex. This intimate, atmospheric map was a good fit for Burning Skies’ potent arsenal, making the encounters feel more urgent and high-stakes. The multiplayer war raged through dimly lit stairwells, cluttered rooftops, and a dangerously exposed city street. When the smoke cleared, I stood tall…with a second-place finish. Not bad! Winning multiplayer matches nets you XP that you can cash in to purchase new weapons and mods.

So far, Burning Skies’ eight-player multiplayer mode is confirmed to support free-for-all deathmatch and team deathmatch modes, with a third survivor-type mode remaining in the shadows for now. If you have questions, leave them in the comments…but if you live in San Francisco, why not drop by tonight to try it for yourself?

In addition to its all-new single player campaign, Burning Skies features an online (via Wi-Fi) multiplayer in which you and up to seven of your friends can compete over PlayStation Network! We know you’ve all been asking about multiplayer in Burning Skies, so please enjoy the first look at it in this new trailer!

When designing Resistance: Burning Skies, our goal was to bring a high-quality console experience to a handheld, and thanks to the power of the Vita, we’ve ended up with an unprecedented mobile FPS. Experience the dual analog sticks for precision aiming, touch screen interactivity for precise and quick secondary weapon fires, and portable online connectivity.

We’ve just showcased that game at an event in NYC, showing off some of the cool things we’re doing with online:

8 player multiplayer – Small games feature intense 2 vs. 2 combat and large games going all the way up to 4 on 4 action. Choose between Quick Match: a fast and easy way to get up and playing immediately by jumping in an automatic matchmaking session or Party with Friends: use the Vita’s cross-game Party application and Party up with friends to join private matches and take advantage of Party with voice chat.

Rank Up! – Killing enemies and winning matches is the easiest way to earn XP and Rank Up. Be rewarded with bonus XP for your daring feats of skill. For example, you may find yourself well rewarded for killing multiple enemies with a skilled grenade toss. Unlock all your favorite weapons and upgrades from the story campaign as you Rank Up.

Modify & customize your weapons - Upgrades you purchase can be slotted and unslotted from weapons at will, with some even giving your weapons a distinctive visual look. Purchase upgrades for weapons that best suit your personal playstyle. For example, the fan favorite Bullseye can be upgraded with Explosive Tag – which gives your Bullseye Tags and extra explosive kick. But keep in mind if you’re killed, your enemies may pick up your upgraded weapons and use them against you!

Connect Everywhere – You can connect with the PlayStation community no matter where you are via Wi-Fi and 3G through social features including leaderboards and NEAR, PlayStation Vita’s location-based service. Through NEAR, Resistance: Burning Skies introduces a new social perk awarding players valuable XP multipliers to carry into multiplayer battle. Stay tuned as we get closer to launch for all the details on NEAR.

Online play in Resistance: Burning Skies will feature three game modes – Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and a very unique third mode which we’ll be revealing next week. There will be six playable maps, taking you everywhere from the streets of Staten Island to the docks of Bayonne, NJ. You’ll be able to vote prior to each match, allowing you to take the battle between the humans and Chimera to a variety of locales from the game.

Resistance: Burning Skies will be available in North America in stores and on the PSN May 29th for $39.99. But you don’t have to wait til then; if you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, join us to go hands-on with Resistance: Burning Skies multiplayer next week! Read the details and RSVP here.

Ever since the PS Vita’s second analog stick was revealed, gamers have been salivating for the first true portable FPS. We’re getting close; Resistance: Burning Skies will be released on May 29th. But what if you don’t want to wait that long? RBS developer Nihilistic will cross the Golden Gate next week to give the public a sneak peek hands-on with the first multiplayer FPS on PS Vita.

This won’t just be a casual run through the multiplayer game modes – we’ll be running a tournament with top players awarded a copy of the game when it releases, and a PS Vita prize package for the top overall gunner.

You know you want this

Of course, food, drinks, and admittance are free. Here are all the details:

Resistance Burning Skies Multiplayer meet-up
When: Wednesday, April 18th, 8-11pm
Where: Thirsty Bear Brewing Company
(upstairs, second floor veranda)
661 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA

All ages welcome – just bring your ID (if you’re under 18, drag along a parent/guardian type person). Don’t forget to RSVP here. Space will be limited, so get there early if you want to get in and compete!

In this video, Huebner narrates as producer Frank Simon drags and drops grenades right where he wants them. Also, take note of touch-screen melee controls, the first person cover system, the touch-activated weapon wheel, and the Sixeye sniper rifle’s alt-fire mode.